Abstract Submission Rules and Guidelines

Note: Alternate submission methods will result in only the author's name and abstract title being published both in the meeting program and on the web. Please read the following rules and guidelines before submitting your abstract.

Rules and Preparation Guidelines

Who may submit an abstract — The privilege of contributing papers is restricted to:

Nonmembers whose abstracts are sponsored by members. These abstracts must include a footnote with the statement: "Sponsored by (member's name)."

Time — Invited papers are given 25 minutes with 5 minutes for discussion. Contributed papers are 8 minutes in duration with 2 minutes for discussion. Discussion is often vital to work presented, and these times will be strictly adhered to.

Deadlines — Abstracts that do not arrive by the submission deadline will be placed in a post-deadline session.

Multiple papers — Any presenter may give a maximum of one invited talk (including panel participation) and one oral contributed talk at each meeting. All other papers need to be presented in a poster format for which there is a four poster per meeting limit. While presenting a poster to expand upon the content of an oral persentation is encouraged, if this is done, the oral presentation must be complete enough to stand on its own.

Length of Abstracts — Abstracts, including footnotes, must be 150 words or less. The program chairperson and the editors reserve the right to edit abstracts, if necessary, for clarity, grammar, style, and length. Abstract titles must be limited to ten words less. Titles exceeding the limit will be edited. Keep footnotes to a minimum; if needed, they should pertain only to published works, such as journal articles, studies, etc. Do not reference unpublished materials or past presentations for which papers are not easily obtained.

General poster session — Authors may present any paper for the Winter or Summer meeting in poster format rather than the usual speaking format. If you wish to present a poster paper, under "Session Type," check "Poster." Effective Summer 2006, there are changes regarding the status contributed poster sessions. Read about the changes.

Audiovisual equipment — An LCD projector and microphone will be automatically provided at no cost in all session rooms. Speakers will be required to pay for additional equipment if it is required.

Laptops — Laptops will not be provided in the session rooms. If you are not able to bring your own laptop, please check with the session organizer to make other arrangements. It is important to arrive to the session room approximately 10 minutes in advance to either load your presentation onto another presenter's laptop or hook-up your own.Scheduling — Please check the AAPT website, approximately three months before the meeting for the scheduled date and time of your presentation.

Policy — In accordance with the AAPT Constitution and policy, authors are requested to be sensitive to, and show respect for, ethnic, cultural, religious, and gender diversity. For example, you should not use language that suggests that physicists are exclusively male. Additionally, AAPT's official measurement system is the International System of Units (SI). We recommend that our members and those writing for our publications make every effort to use the SI system exclusively.

Websites — Often, meeting presenters have websites that accompany their papers. If you would like attendees to refer to a particular website prior to the meeting, please include the website's URL as a footnote to your abstract.